I’m ready to reserve a start date with ATP and live between the two Denver locations. The new location at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport is a little closer to home, and I would prefer to go there. However, I looked on the ATP website and it says the new location only has 2 Cessna 172s compared to 16 at Centennial. Should I be concerned going to the new location since it is brand new and the fleet is so much smaller?
Matthew,
Don’t judge a training center by it’s fleet size. It’s a new location with the potential to become a moderately sized training center. That will take time. ATP manages the fleet/instructor/student ratio. A smaller training center will have fewer instructors and fewer students, and management will manage the training center’s efficiency accordingly. I taught at three different locations, including one that only had 2 cessnas. My average flight time didn’t noticeably fluctuate between locations.
Tory
Matthew,
The fleet and instructor size is proportionate to the number of students at the location, the ratio should be roughly the same at any location. I would simply pick the location that is most convenient and not give it any thought beyond that.
Chris
Awesome. Thank you for the advice!
Matthew,
The “new” location is… how shall I say it? New. As Chris said they staff locations based on demand. Once people like you start training there and there’s a need they’ll increase the instructors and aircraft but why have planes parked until they do?
Choose the location that works best for you.
Adam
Hello,
I am also considering ATP. I live about an hour North of Boulder and an hour and 15 from Centennial. If I was to attend at the Boulder location, what would be the process to get the multi engine cert? Would I have to go down to Centennial for those instruction days, or would a multi be flown to Boulder? Or would it make sense to just attend at the Centennial location for the entire program? Thank you in advance!
Calvin,
Regardless of which location you choose you’ll be going elsewhere for your CFI training. Additionally when the time comes many months from now for you to do your ME training there may very well be ME aircraft in Boulder.
Don’t overthink it and choose the location that’s most convenient for you.
Adam
I’m not sure how it is across the board but I am fairly certain that there are no set multi engine locations. The website says there is but I believe each location has one or two set multi instructors. For example, TIW was supposed to be the multi engine location for like my area, but PAE has one Seminole and one multi instructor so we don’t have to go to TIW
They actually just opened up a CFI school in Denver in the last month or so at Centennial. It’s been rumored for a long time, but they’re officially sending students there now. I know that’s beside the point, but just throwing it out there for future reference
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I’m excited for the Denver location. It’s probably where I’ll be going to CFI since I should be through my commercial stuff soon.
Current student at KBJC. I started at Centennial then transferred to BJC as soon as they opened it. I was at Centennial for about a month before the transfer. Right now we currently have 3 instructors with 3 planes so easy math right? Currently there are 11 students including myself. The location is good for training because it’s always windy so you actually don’t have many calm days. So landing with winds and having that as your norm makes landing anywhere else when it’s calm make you feel so comfortable and it’s ridiculously easy. However we do get delyed a lot or not fly certain days because it’s so windy. With us being a smaller location compared to Centennial I actually flew more often then the other students I started with at Centennial. You will go to Centennial at some point regardless because that’s where you take your written tests and Centennial will remain a multi location. As of right now atp will not make BJC a multi location. However the multi phase from what I hear is not long at all.
Andrew,
Thank you for adding your insights.
Chris